Aaron Rodgers: “I haven’t been out carousing”

Stories have emerged about Steelers players being out late, enjoying the nightlife on both of the team’s first two nights here in Dallas. But Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers says there will be no such stories about him.

“I haven’t been out carousing,” Rodgers said today. “I am a homebody, so I’ve been spending a lot of time in my hotel room watching film. I think it is important at the same time that you are sticking with your normal routine. I like to go out to dinner when I’m back home in Green Bay so I’ve gone out to dinner, to a couple of really nice spots, and then come home, relax and watch film.”

On Monday night, Steelers receiver Hines Ward was reportedly out at a strip club. On Tuesday night, Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger was reportedly “boozing” at a piano bar.

Of course, these are the Super Bowl week stories that can be used to fit any narrative we in the media choose: If the Packers win on Sunday, we’ll say it’s because they were studying while the Steelers were partying. But if the Steelers win on Sunday, we’ll all talk about how they were loose and relaxed while the Packers were too tight.

Rodgers acknowledged that there’s a risk of spending too much time watching film.

“You definitely can over-prepare, but I’m going to stay focused and keep doing the things that I have been doing the past few weeks to prepare,” Rodgers said. “Hopefully the rest of the team does the same.”

AP

It should come as no surprise that Steelers linebacker James Harrison is pleased that Saints linebacker Jonathan Vilma is suing NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell.

Harrison, who trashed Goodell in an interview last year only to apologize and say his comments were way out of line, seems to agree with Vilma’s contention that Goodell was way out of line in his public comments about the Saints’ bounty scandal. And Harrison thinks Vilma’s attempt to sue Goodell for defamation is a “win-win,” even if it is unsuccessful.

“If [Vilma] loses, it shows Goodell does have too much power,” Harrison told the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, “and if he wins, it opens up the floodgates.”

Harrison said he believes the players shouldn’t have signed off on the new Collective Bargaining Agreement last year unless the commissioner’s powers had been curtailed. When the CBA was formally approved last summer, the players in Steelers camp voted 78-6 against it, making them the only team to oppose the new CBA.

Asked if he thinks players on other teams now regret agreeing to the CBA, Harrison answered, “I would hope so.”

On Wednesday, the NFLPA sued the NFL for collusion.  It’s a complicated claim involving complicated facts and, at times, complicated words.

The first segment of Thursday’s PFT Live was devoted to breaking it all down in the most understandable way possible.

Even the “most understandable way possible” still may not be completely understandable, but at least I tried.

So in those final minutes of running out the clock on a Thursday afternoon at work, plug in the earphones and get a quick education on one of the most significant legal fights that the NFL and NFLPA ever will wage.  And then try to repeat it all at a barbeque this weekend while you’re working on your third beer.

The ever-growing portfolio of litigation involved the NFLPA has gotten smaller by one case.

According to Daniel Kaplan of SportsBusiness Journal, a federal court in California dismissed this week a lawsuit filed by five former players who claimed that the union failed to properly represent them for licensing.  The players tried to craft statements by NFLPA employees that the union represents the interests of retired players into a legal duty to attempt to obtain licensing deals in the absence of a contract to do so.

The plaintiffs were Bernie Parrish (pictured), Bob Grant, Walter Roberts, Clinton Jones, and Marvin Cobb.

The suit apparently was inspired by a lawsuit against the NFLPA brought by former players who had signed licensing deals, and who claimed that the NFLPA failed to properly represent their interests.  The prior lawsuit resulted in a jury verdict of $28.1 million.

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In a procedure that possibly was devised by the guy from Goodfellas who always said everything twice, Minneapolis City Council has approved the proposed Vikings stadium deal by a vote of 7-6 — one day before voting again.  On the same proposal.

According to the Minneapolis Star Tribune, Council voted to approve the plan Thursday.  On Friday, Council will vote to ratify the decision that was made on Friday.

Barring an unexpected development, such as a swing voter suddenly remembering that Vikings owner Zygi Wilf’s son once stole her marble rye on the streets of Manhattan, the Vikings will be getting their stadium, getting their stadium.

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For nearly a year, there’s been a sense that the Saints and quarterback Drew Brees will work out a long-term deal soon.  And for nearly a year “soon” hasn’t happened.

Now, Brees’ teammates are echoing the “soon” mantra.

“It’s definitely different,” Pro Bowl guard Jahri Evans said Thursday regarding the absence of Brees from Organized Teams Activities, via comments distributed by the team.  “I think this is the first time we’ve actually had practices without Drew here, but we all understand the nature of this business and believe it’s going to get done soon.”

Evans clearly prefers sooner to later.  “I think everybody wants him back here, but we also know nothing happens overnight,” Evans said.  “It’s just the nature of the business.  Negotiations are like a tennis match, back and forth, back and forth.  Drew’s a pro at what he does, he can study even if he’s  not here, and he knows what he needs to do to be ready to go, and will be ready to go.”

Even though Evans thinks it will be soon, he has no specific idea as to when soon may be.  “We just don’t know,” Evans said.  “It’s uncharted territory.  We know that when’s he’s here, we all are going to be ready to go.”

The key words are “ready to go.”  The Saints need to be “ready to go” from Week One, because they need to have the kind of regular season that will allow them not only to make it to the playoffs but also to host postseason games.  Otherwise, they’ll have a much harder time qualifying for the ultimate home game, which this year will be played in their home stadium.

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You could forgive the Giants if they are starting to feel a little bit of déjà vu right now.

The feelings started on Wednesday when cornerback Brian Witherspoon was carted off the field during the first OTA practice with a torn ACL, the second straight season with that injury for Witherspoon (who was waived/injured on Thursday) and the second straight season where they started losing players on the practice field. They are getting stronger now that wide receiver Hakeem Nicks fractured the fifth metatarsal in his right foot at Thursday’s practice.

The team announced Nicks’ injury and that he is scheduled to have surgery to have a screw inserted in the bone on Friday. He is expected to miss approximately 12 weeks.

That recovery time would have Nicks back on the field at the tail end of training camp and any setbacks could impact his readiness for the start of the season. It’s the latest in a series of lower leg injuries for Nicks, although he’s done a good job of staying on the field in his three years with the team. Nicks had 76 catches for 1,192 yards and seven touchdowns in 15 games last season and led all receivers in the playoffs with 28 catches for 444 yards.

Second-round pick Rueben Randle should see most of the action at Nicks’ spot with Domenik Hixon, Jerrel Jernigan and Ramses Barden also seeing more reps as a result. It might not be a bad time for Victor Cruz, set to make $540,000 this season, to renew his push for a new contract.

AP

Carolina linebacker Jon Beason is most of the way back from a torn Achilles tendon suffered in Week One of last season, but he’s not all the way back. And because of that, the Panthers are forcing him to take it easy at Organized Team Activities.

Beason says he showed up to OTAs expecting to do everything, but the medical staff has restricted what he can do.

“I think they’re just protecting me from myself,” Beason told the Charlotte Observer. “Practice is practice. But to me you come out and compete. You try to win every down and you play the game a certain way. I think that had a lot to do with it, too.”

Ideally, the Panthers would like to have Thomas Davis starting at strong side linebacker, Beason in the middle and first-round rookie Luke Kuechly starting on the weak side. But Beason isn’t all the way back just yet, and Davis still has a ways to go in recovery from his third ACL injury. Panthers coach Ron Rivera said Beason is further along than Davis.

“I’d like to believe when we get to training camp, we can put Jon in full-go at that point, and Thomas, we’ll ease him back in,” Rivera said.

Easing injured players back in is the wise course of action, even if it’s not always what the players themselves want.

AP

Back in February, Patriots guard Brian Waters said he would take a few weeks to decide whether or not he plans to play in 2012.

Since then we haven’t heard much of anything from Waters or the Patriots about his plans for the future. Waters has not been participating in the team’s offseason workouts and he’s not at the team’s voluntary Organized Team Activities this week, causing some to think that the Patriots would lose a second starting offensive lineman.

According to the Boston Herald, that’s not the case. Waters has always planned to play this season, his 14th in the NFL, and was merely following the same routine he’s followed throughout his NFL career. Based on that report, Waters is expected to be the team’s starting right guard again in 2012.

That’s good news for the Patriots. Waters was probably the team’s best lineman in 2011 and the loss of Light coupled with left guard Logan Mankins‘ recovery from knee surgery means that they need all the consistency they can get up front. Ryan Wendell has been taking first team reps in Waters’ place, although it doesn’t appear he will be needed to take over the position on a full-time basis.

AP

The Jaguars got some good news on Thursday, with defensive tackle Terrance Knighton donning a helmet and hitting the practice field for the first time since being hit in the eye with a vodka bottle in April.

Per Tania Ganguli of the Florida Times-Union, Knighton participated in practice on Thursday.

He wasn’t participating in team drills, but it’s a bonus for the Jags, given that they didn’t expect him to be available at all until training camp.

Knighton’s eye reportedly appeared to be “slightly swollen.”

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Members of the New York media got their first look at Tim Tebow on the Jets’ practice field at today’s Organized Team Activities, and the general consensus is that as a quarterback, he’s one heck of a punt protector.

The Tebow obsession might have gotten a little bit out of control when some of the Jets beat writers were offering up live Twitter updates of Tebow’s interceptions during 7-on-7 drills, but those interceptions led to the general consensus that Tebow is having some growing pains in learning the Jets’ offense, and that he didn’t look as good passing the ball as Mark Sanchez.

“It’s definitely frustrating,” Tebow said of throwing two interceptions. “But it’s 7-on-7. Those plays . . . were the first time I ran them. So I’ll learn from it. Honestly, it won’t bother me again. When you make the bad play, you got to put it behind you and move on. I felt like I did.”

Tebow also got reps on the punt team, where the Jets plan to use him as the personal protector, and he seems fine there, to the extent that you can tell anything about a guy’s ability to be a personal protector on the punt team when they’re practicing in shorts in May.

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With the NFL and NFLPA suddenly getting along even worse than the Hatfields and the McCoys, it makes sense to think about other ways in which the fight could manifest itself.

The union now claims that the teams engaged in collusion two years ago, establishing a secret $123 million per-team salary cap.  Though that claim wasn’t specifically made before the current CBA was signed, the NFLPA previously claimed that the teams agreed among themselves not to sign each other’s restricted free agents in the uncapped year, when players with four and five years of service fell under the rules of restricted free agency.

Given that the union is now pursuing a collusion claim that arguably was waived by the current CBA, it’s hardly a stretch to wonder whether the NFLPA will turn its attention to restricted free agency in 2012.

Of the 42 restricted free agents, not a single one signed an offer sheet.  The pool included players who could have been had with a first-round pick as compensation (like Steelers receiver Mike Wallace and Ravens cornerback Lardarius Webb) and players who could have been had for no compensation (like Steelers offensive lineman Doug Legursky).

There’s currently no publicly-known smoking gun that would prove that the teams have a wink-nod understanding that restricted free agents are off-limits.  But the objective proof suggests that something is happening, just like it did when teams weren’t signing restricted free agents in 2010 — and just like it did when teams treated the uncapped year as anything but uncapped.

The only question at this point is whether the NFLPA will point a finger and fire up the legal engines.

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The Ravens have a lengthy history of making great decisions on draft day(s).  That’s what makes the rare errors even more glaring.

In 2010, they stopped the slide of linebacker Sergio Kindle, a move that at the time was regarded as a potential steal.  Two years later, Kindle has made minimal contributions.  He now faces what could be a critical season with the franchise.

And he knows it.

“Make or break year?” Kindle said Wednesday, via Aaron Wilson of the Carroll County Times.  “Perhaps, always.  I feel like that every year.  Just because I haven’t proved anything yet.”

He hasn’t proved anything yet in part because he missed all of his rookie season after falling down stairs and fracturing his skull.  (Getting a DUI that year didn’t help, either.)  As a result of the injury, he has permanent hearing loss in his right ear, which makes hand signals necessary to help him pick up the defensive calls.

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Lawrence Taylor’s Super Bowl XXV ring sold for $230,401 last week, and it may have been purchased by someone whose fame (and drug-fueled personal escapades) exceed L.T.’s.

Jay Glazer of FOX Sports reports that Taylor and his agent, Mark Lepselter, were told last night that the winning bidder for Taylor’s Super Bowl Ring was Charlie Sheen.

To be clear, Glazer isn’t reporting that Sheen was the buyer — and neither the auction house nor Sheen has said anything about it — but that’s what Taylor and Lepselter have been told.

If Sheen did buy the ring, it wouldn’t be out of character for him: Sheen is a sports nut who has spent a lot of money on memorabilia through the years. Sheen once told Dan Patrick that some of the big-ticket items he has purchased in the past include Babe Ruth’s 1927 World Series ring and the contract of Ruth’s sale from the Red Sox to the Yankees. Sheen also once purchased all the bleacher seats to an Angles game to try (unsuccessfully) to catch a Cecil Fielder home run ball.

Spending nearly a quarter of a million dollars on the ring sounds like something someone would do while under the influence of a drug called Charlie Sheen.

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Former Bills and Steelers executive Tom Donahoe is returning to the NFL.

The Eagles announced Thursday that they have hired Donahoe to be the team’s senior football advisor. Donahoe was the director of football operations in Pittsburgh from 1991 to 1999 and he was the General Manager and president of the Bills from 2001 to 2005. Donahoe’s exact responsibilities aren’t clear, but he’ll likely play a role similar to the one that former Browns General Manager Phil Savage filled for the last couple of seasons.

In addition to Savage, the Eagles recently lost two scouts. Ahmad Russell left to join Ryan Grigson, the former Eagles director of player personnel, in Indianapolis after Grigson became the Colts General Manager and Daniel Jeremiah left to take a position with NFL.com.

The Eagles also announced that they have named Ed Marynowitz as assistant director of pro scouting, Jake Hallum as senior scout, John Middlekauff as west coast area scout, Dan Hatman as pro scout, Alec Halaby as special assistant to the general manager, and Jake Rosenberg as manager of football administration.

Most scouting-related jobs have contracts that run out just after the draft, which always makes this the busy time of year for changes in those positions around the NFL.

AP

After a decade and more than 100 sacks as a 4-3 defensive end, Dwight Freeney is moving to outside linebacker in new coach Chuck Pagano’s 3-4 defense. And he says that’s a bigger adjustment than some people might realize.

Freeney said on NFL Total Access that he has become so accustomed to lining up like a sprinter and going straight to the quarterback that he has a lot to learn now that he has more responsibilities at a different position.

“It’s going to be an adjustment for me,” Freeney said. “I’m a guy who is used to, as you know, hand down going one direction – that’s towards the quarterback, towards the running back and whoever is in the backfield. That line of sight is a comfort level for me when I have my hand down. Now I’m playing linebacker, they have some similarities but I’m also going to be dropping in space, running in the opposite direction from the quarterback. I know the coach is going to be yelling at me the first few weeks. Sometimes I’m probably going to fake dropping back and go in for the blitz. It’s going to be an adjustment. I’m excited for the challenge. It’s something new. People won’t be able to just blackboard me saying ‘This is where Dwight is going to line up and this is how we’re going to turn the protection.’ Now I get to move around a little bit so hopefully things work out.”

The Colts are a rebuilding team, and it would have been understandable if they had decided that it wasn’t worth asking a 32-year-old with a base salary of more than $14 million to learn a new position and had either traded or released Freeney. But Freeney said he always expected to remain in Indianapolis and that he’s excited to be contributing to the new-look Colts. This is a big adjustment that Freeney is glad to make.